Proxy Analyzer can find out the different types of the HTTP proxies:

Transparent proxies (not anonymous, simply HTTP) do not change the header fields
and transfer your real IP. Such proxies are not applicable for security and privacy while surfing on net. You can use them only for network speed improvement.

Anonymous proxies do not show your real IP no more and change and/or hide the header fields.

Distorting (Gateways) proxies. Such proxies alter their own IP address (your real IP is also hidden), change the header fields that it looks like the real browser connects without using a proxy. People administrating web sites will think that you are not using any proxies.

The program can find proxies which support FTP connect method. These proxies may be used, for example, in download managers that support this kind of proxy.

The Proxy Analyzer can calculate approximate data transfer speed through a HTTP proxy server.

HTTP proxy servers have several anonymity levels. It depends on purposes a proxy is used for, so an anonymity requirement is not always an essential one.

According to how environment variables are "hidden" by proxy servers, AATools rates HTTP proxy servers as follows:

1. Not anonymous (0 points) - these proxies, first, let a web server know that a proxy server is used and, secondly, spill a client's IP-address:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP/your IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP/your IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = your IP

The task of such proxies, as a rule, is information cashing, organization of joint access to Internet of several computers, etc.

2. Simple Anonymous (5 - 100 points) - though these proxy servers let a remote computer (web-server) know that a proxy is used, they do not transmit an IP-address of a client but replace your IP with their own instead:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = proxy IP

Plus, there may be other signs of using a proxy server:

- HTTP Cache Control, HTTP Connection Close variables;
- 'mail', 'cache', 'proxy', etc. words in the Host Name box;

3. Distorting (128 points) - as well as simple anonymous proxy servers these proxies do not hide the fact that a proxy server is used. However a client’s IP address (your IP address) is replaced with another (arbitrary, random) IP. So, these proxies distort your IP address from the point of view of a web-server:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = random IP address

4. High anonymity proxies (100 - 128 points) – they do not send your IP-address to a remote computer. Moreover, they do not inform that there is used any proxy-server! So, a web-server "thinks” that it works directly with a client:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = not determined
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined
HTTP connection: keep alive

That means that values of variables are the same as if a proxy is not used, i.e. not determined, with the exception of one very important thing – proxy IP is used instead of your IP address.

Reasons that one may want to use a proxy server:

Privacy & Anonymity
You may not like to visit some web sites that gather information about yourself, your buying patterns, etc. You may want to visit a site without leaving any traces that you were ever there. For instance, anonymously checking what's going on at your competitor's Web site. Your visit will leave a record in their log file, but using an anonymous proxy, verified with Proxy Analyzer, that record will not point towards your address. Frequent visits will leave many records. Erase your tracks or even better, never let them be created...

Speed
Your default Internet Service Provider may be very slow. Connecting to a large proxy may speed up your connection times considerably.

With Proxy Analyzer you can:

• Check the anonymity degree of proxy servers
• Check SOCKS Proxy and see their levels – 4, 5
• Choose to use only those proxies that meet particular anonymity requirements
• Find the anonymous proxy server which is the fastest for your region
• Scan each server, check its response time, confirm its anonymity
• Choose the best candidate as your default proxy
• Tests proxies for HTTP and Secure HTTP (SSL): HTTPS support
• Check only one Proxy, or list of Proxies simultaneously
• View results of testing in your favorite browser
• Use multithreading to check your Proxy list faster
• Save only Bad or only Good Proxy to any file
• And many more...

After you choose the best anonymous proxy for your needs, you can:

• Surf Web Anonymously. Surf the web in such a way that the websites you visit will not know who you are and what country you are from, with your IP address hidden
• Download files with your default browser staying anonymous
• Submit your Web pages to search engines without having to worry about submission limits (submit each page using a different anonymous proxy)
• Check the anonymity status of proxy servers.

Download AATools Proxy Analyzer